Looking Back to See

The Browns—Maxine, Bonnie, and Jim Ed—are a trio of siblings that had tremendous success in the 1950s and 60s. Following in the tradition of the best of such books, such as Loretta’s Lynn’s Coal Miner’s Daughter, this memoir, told in Maxine’s own plucky, spirited style, delves deeply into the Browns’ remarkable past, beginning with a Depression-era childhood in rural south Arkansas.

Cover

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

Contents

Foreword

When Maxine was writing this book about her life, her family,
her music, and her times, she came by to see me. I had retired to my
farm and was always glad to see old friends drop by. As there is no
end to things that can be fixed on a farm...

Acknowledgments

There are so many people I would like to thank who have helped
me during the course of writing this book, but the one person I wish
to thank the most is Baxter Clarence Hall. Had it not been for
Clarence, this book would have never...

Introduction

Everyone this side of Fabor Robinson’s ghost should welcome
Maxine Brown’s memoir. “Looking Back To See” was the title of the
Browns’ first hit song (it went to number eight in 1954), and a perfect
title for this volume, indicating both...

I. Fire and Hunger

1. Living Lean and Country Values

I was only three years old when I first found out that fire and hunger
are sometimes the same thing. That was back in 1934, in a time we
now call the Great Depression, and we were a family named the
Browns. Like so many poor people...

2. Raymond’s Death and Daddy’s Logging Accident

Our little brother Raymond was a free spirit. Even though he was
only seven years old, he seemed to me to be wise beyond his years,
and he always had a way of cheering us up and making us laugh. I
think maybe...

3. Moving on Up—and Around

Our new house in Benton had indoor plumbing. It was the first indoor
toilet we’d ever had. We still didn’t have a bath, but how nice it was to
be able to use toilet tissue instead of the slick pages of a Sears catalog!
Our next-door neighbors...

II. The Other Side

4. Now We’re in Show Business

It started for us in the spring of 1952. The whole country seemed to
be living on boogie-woogie and swing music, television, horror movies,
and nickel Cokes. We didn’t have rock ’n’ roll, school integration, air
conditioning, a polio vaccine...

5. Our First Recording Session

As the Barnyard Frolic kept growing in popularity, so did J. E. He sang
a real crowd-pleaser called “Hey Joe,” and the girls yelled and screamed
for him so much that sometimes he’d have to encore with the same
songs. To tell the truth, I think he was more...

6. Perils of the Road and That Old Devil Robinson

“Looking Back To See” was such a big hit that J. E. and I were in
demand. I quit my job with the State Police and J. E. dropped out of
college. The first date we ever played after the song hit was in
Cleveland, Ohio. Up until...

7. We Get Screwed

When we returned to the tour in Boise, Fabor acted as though nothing
had happened. J. E. kept blaming himself for everything, all our
troubles and my getting food poisoning. I blamed that devil Fabor.
God, how we hated...

III. Here Today and Gone Tomorrow

8. Screwed Again

After the reopening of the Trio Club, we stayed busy with show dates
in and around the region. As regulars on the Louisiana Hayride, we journeyed
down to Shreveport nearly every weekend. One Saturday night
while we were...

9. Putting on That Almighty Front

I should have written a song about Fabor. I should have written a
song about dumb kids with pipe dreams and California promises.
That song would have been right up there with “There’s No Business
like Show...

10. Elvis Presley

He wasn’t any better looking than a dozen other young studs on the
music scene. He was slender and walked with a sexy hitch to his hips.
He wore his hair full and wavy, with a teasy strand on his high forehead,
and long sideburns...

11. Another Legend is Born

While we were getting our new act together, my folks’ new Trio Club
was going great guns. The only trouble was that, as always, Momma
was working herself to death. Thank goodness she had Dido Rowley
from the...

12. I Finally Meet My Childhood Idol

After we started making it on a grander scale, Nashville became our
second home, just as it’s been for countless other singers and pickers.
Most of us have a favorite among the stars who have settled in
Nashville...

13. Europe

In 1957, the Brown Trio made its first trip to Europe. J. E., Bonnie,
and I were working regularly all over the country and happened to
be on the East Coast when it was time to go. We’d been on tour for
about two weeks and were scheduled to join...

14. The Browns’ Younger Sister and Momma’s Stroke

We didn’t join the Grand Ole Opry following our European tour after
all. The reason was that we just couldn’t afford it. Joining the Opry back
then would have required us to be in Nashville nearly every weekend.
And it would have cost us dearly...

IV. Sweet Sounds

15. “The Three Bells” (Little Jimmy Brown)

Driving back home from Nashville, we felt as low as the old wayfaring
stranger. We just knew we had reached the end of our singing
career. We didn’t sing while we drove, as we usually did. We didn’t
laugh and tell jokes...

16. “Scarlet Ribbons” and “The Old Lamplighter”

Every artist who has ever had a number one record knows the anxiety
and frustration of finding just the right song for a follow-up. We
spent the two days before our next recording session with Chet Atkins,
our producer, listening...

18. “Mommy, Please Stay Home with Me”

I came home from a tour one time to discover that my husband
Tommy hadn’t set foot in the house since I’d been gone. Aunt Maggie
was still taking care of my kids. She told me she knew Tommy had a
serious girlfriend...

VI. The Last Hard Road

19. Just a Matter of Time

You hear a song you like so much it seems to become a part of your
life and soul, you worship the ones singing it, and you buy all their
records and go to all their concerts. When they break up, a little piece
of you dies with them...

20. Jim Reeves’s Last Flight

So you think it’s the big time when you’ve been in the business
almost ten years and had several million-selling hits? That’s what we
thought all through the next five years of our career. We had made
so much money from...

21. Learning to Accept Life’s Gifts

I was living in Nashville, a single lady again, when I went and made
one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I don’t know what it proves.
That I was lonely? That I was a glutton for punishment? That I was
a hopeless romantic who could never...

22. “I Can’t Quit, I’m a Star”

Bonnie finally decided she’d had it with all the road trips. She wanted
to stay home with her family. I had three kids of my own but no husband.
I think I would have quit on the spot if I’d had any means of
support. But I had...

23. “Old Hat” Maxine

This quotation is from the October 27, 1967, issue of Billboard magazine.
It summarized in one paragraph the long road that brought us to
our final performance together at the Grand Ole Opry as members.
Though we would appear...

24. Losing Momma

Delores booked me on a series of “hillbilly park” dates, four or five
in succession in and around West Virginia. She had also booked a band
I’d never heard of to accompany me on all the dates and arranged for
me to ride the circuit...

25. Chicken Today, Feathers Tomorrow

Nobody knew how hard the next few years would be for me, the
rough times I would have simply keeping food on the table for my
children. After my marriage went to pieces and my singing career
started downhill...

26. The Browns’ Recording Studio

It’s funny how people who know you were a star think you retired
on top. I hadn’t retired at all. The country music business just sort of
sloughed away from me piece by painful piece. Though I was getting
along better financially...

27. Legends of Country Music

In 1985, Bonnie and I got another chance to make a comeback as the
Browns. On a visit to Nashville to see J. E. and Becky, we went to watch
the taping of his show, You Can Be A Star.Then we went with J. E. to
the Grand Ole Opry. He called...

28. Still Singing

It’s not over until it’s over. And it wasn’t over yet for the Browns—
not by a long shot. Nostalgia for older music had gotten so strong in
the ’90s that many groups that had disbanded years earlier were getting
back together...

29. Last Song: Still Dreaming
the Dream

Finally it came time for me to accept the fact that the music world was
a cloud I’d been riding for too long. I had experienced enough setbacks
and frustrations to stay bitter for the rest of my life. Even today,
it’s hard for me to understand...

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